I have read most of the threads on batteries for the PP and most other devices on MR.

I only charged my PP for 4 hours the day I received it and it lasted a week until it lost a bar.... SO, I decided to top it up as I do the other readers that I own....and .... to my surprise after a day it fell by one bar from Full..... mmmm

Should I do the 12 hour charge? Should I have to do the 12 hour charge every time or only the first three times? The first time I only did 4 hours and it worked ....... me thinks....

anyways.... The charge-====== Ligtning bolt is on so I know it is charging....

I have read most of the threads on batteries for the PP and most other devices on MR.

I only charged my PP for 4 hours the day I received it and it lasted a week until it lost a bar.... SO, I decided to top it up as I do the other readers that I own....and .... to my surprise after a day it fell by one bar from Full..... mmmm

Should I do the 12 hour charge? Should I have to do the 12 hour charge every time or only the first three times? The first time I only did 4 hours and it worked ....... me thinks....

anyways.... The charge-====== Ligtning bolt is on so I know it is charging....

One thing that you should probably consider is that the smart battery chip inside the battery calibrates itself as you use it. You need to go down very near full discharge at least once so that the smart battery chip knows where empty actually is.
This is just a wild guess, but the smart battery chip may now be telling you how far you are from the charge state where you started the top up from????????? As far as the charge time goes, you only really need to charge as long as it takes to reach full charge.

From my limited experience, I would charge overnight (12+ hours) for the first three charges and resume regular charging after that. The battery life after my first 12+ hour charge seemed a little short. But the second 12+ hour charge has lasted several days.

I have read most of the threads on batteries for the PP and most other devices on MR.

I only charged my PP for 4 hours the day I received it and it lasted a week until it lost a bar.... SO, I decided to top it up as I do the other readers that I own....and .... to my surprise after a day it fell by one bar from Full..... mmmm

Should I do the 12 hour charge? Should I have to do the 12 hour charge every time or only the first three times? The first time I only did 4 hours and it worked ....... me thinks....

anyways.... The charge-====== Ligtning bolt is on so I know it is charging....

Here are my recommendations:

1. Do NOT expect a battery charge life indicator to be like a gas gauge on your car. They are a rough guide only. They are not an exact status indicator.
2. It is good that you are looking for the lightning bolt but you should also see a falshing red/orange light if the battery is being charged.
3. By charging only 4 hours the first time, you have established to the gauge where the full mark is. Think of a gas tank with a big dent in it. It will read higher than it is. That first initial charge needs to be 8-12 hours so the gauge can "learn" from the battery where "full" really is.
4. Look at the latest FAQ sheet for full charging instructions and what you should see. You need to see the lightning bolt and the flashing red/orange light. Make sure your USB cable is fully into the Pocket PRO. It can sometimes not bottom out fully.
5. Make sure you have the latest firmware upgrade. One of the good things that latest upgrade did was to increase the battery charge life.
6. After you know it is charging and you let it charge 8-12 hours, then do not recharge this one time until it is near the last bar towards empty. After that charge when it gets a little below 1/2 down.
7. If all else fails email tech support at: support@astak.com

2. It is good that you are looking for the lightning bolt but you should also see a falshing red/orange light if the battery is being charged.
3. By charging only 4 hours the first time, you have established to the gauge where the full mark is. Think of a gas tank with a big dent in it. It will read higher than it is. That first initial charge needs to be 8-12 hours so the gauge can "learn" from the battery where "full" really is.

What I'm not clear on is, do you charge it for 8-12 hours, or do you charge it until the lightning bolt and flashing red/orange light go out? On mine, it only took about 6 hours for the latter the first time, and during those 6 hours I was using it somewhat. Would charging it again for 8-12 hours fix any possible problems with undercharging it? I've already recharged it once (after it went down to 2 bars), about 5 days after getting it, but at least some of that might have been experimenting with formatting, which involved removing and reinserting the SD card a lot; as well as a lot of going back and forth between font sizes 1 and 5, and scanning ahead (read: page turns) to see how soon before an end of chapter or another good break.

What I'm not clear on is, do you charge it for 8-12 hours, or do you charge it until the lightning bolt and flashing red/orange light go out? On mine, it only took about 6 hours for the latter the first time, and during those 6 hours I was using it somewhat. Would charging it again for 8-12 hours fix any possible problems with undercharging it? I've already recharged it once (after it went down to 2 bars), about 5 days after getting it, but at least some of that might have been experimenting with formatting, which involved removing and reinserting the SD card a lot; as well as a lot of going back and forth between font sizes 1 and 5, and scanning ahead (read: page turns) to see how soon before an end of chapter or another good break.

Well not sure if it would fix, but the batteries in the PP (and same with your mobile phone etc) take 2-3 (sometimes 4-5) charge/discharge cycles for the battery to calibrate and (as best) accurately determine when it is full/empty.

Robert is correct, the gauge is only a rough guide. Heck when I got my PP my first bar lasted a good couple of weeks, but the remaining 3 bars dropped down in a few days. It did take a few charge cycles but now each bar lasts about the same number of page turns - BUT IT IS A ROUGH GUIDE.

I would do a 8-12 hour charge and use it until it runs right down (if you use the latest firmware it actually prompts you to say the battery is low and needs charging), and do that 2-3 times.